Into the Sunlight
Into the Sunlight is the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of Once Upon a Time, and the 172nd episode overall. It was preceded by Ozma of Oz and followed by Father Dearest. The episode aired on April 5, 2019. Synopsis In the past, Quasimodo’s backstory is unraveled, including how he came to know the Phantom of the Opera. In the present, Wish Regina and Wizh Zelena decide to go up against Carabosse and Caradoc, while the United Realms Royal Association and their allies help Evanora in their quest to find Erik. Plot Past A deformed baby Quasimodo is unwillingly adopted by the ruthless Claude Frollo in 19th Century France. As he grows up, his only company is a magical living gargoyle, Laverne, created to protect him by his deceased biological mother. Quasimodo is humiliated by the crowd one day after he goes out in public for the first time. Esmeralda, a kind gypsy, intervenes by freeing the hunchback, and uses a magic trick to evade arrest. Frollo confronts Quasimodo and sends him back inside the cathedral. Esmeralda follows Quasimodo inside, only to be followed herself by Captain Phoebus, Frollo's guard. Phoebus refuses to arrest her for alleged witchcraft inside Notre Dame and instead has her confined to the cathedral. Esmeralda finds and befriends Quasimodo, who helps her escape Notre Dame out of gratitude for defending him. When Frollo discovers that she escaped, he instigates a citywide manhunt for her which involves setting fire to countless houses in his way. Phoebus is appalled by Frollo's evil and defies him, and Frollo sentences him to death. While fleeing, Esmeralda rescues him and takes him to Notre Dame for refuge. Frollo returns to Notre Dame later that night and discovers that Quasimodo helped Esmeralda escape. He bluffs to Quasimodo, saying that he knows about Esmerelda and that he intends to kill her. Later, Frollo prepares to burn Esmeralda at the stake after she rejects his advances, but Quasimodo and Phoebus arrive to rescue her; Quasimodo brings her to the cathedral. Phoebus rallies the citizens of Paris against Frollo and his men, who try to break into the cathedral. Frollo manages to get inside and pursues Quasimodo and Esmeralda to the balcony where he and Quasimodo both fall over the edge. Frollo falls to his death in the molten lead, while Quasimodo is caught by Phoebus on a lower floor. The two encourage him to leave the cathedral into the outside world, where the citizens hail him as a hero and accept him into society. Quasimodo returns home after a long day, only to find someone hiding out in Notre Dame - the Phantom of the Opera. They bond over the discrimination they have both encountered. Erik remains a secret resident of Notre Dame; nobody knows of his existence except Quasimodo, Esmerelda and Phoebus. One day, Raoul passes through, to see if he can miraculously find him, but Quasimodo and his friends lie and claim that they don’t know him. Present Wish Regina and Wish Zelena, feeling guilty for failing to keep Carabosse and Caradoc imprisoned, plan to face the villains themselves. They journey to the hidden Black Palace, however it is protected by dark magic. Carabosse and Caradoc confront the two Wish Villains, who demand to know what their intentions are. Carabosse reveals that she needs to make sure that the darkness lives on, by building a magical Black Hole that will suck up and destroy all things “light”. The sisters feel tempted to return to villainy to avoid getting destroyed. Meanwhile, Esmerelda meets with Regina, Zelena, Robin, Alice, Diaval, Lanval, Roger, Raoul, Ozma, Sherlock, Watson and Evanora inside Notre Dame. Evanora aggressively demands that Esmerelda reveal where Erik is, to which she responds that they need to ask Quasimodo. Raoul privately confronts Esmerelda, recognising her from his past, where she told him she never knew an Erik. When faced with the question of why she lied, Esmerelda said it was a deal Quasimodo made with Erik, one that Quasimodo will surely forgive her for breaking. Raoul distrusts her, but Evanora refuses to listen to him. Evanora and Raoul go with Esmerelda to meet Quasimodo, who doesn’t want to meet with the whole group. Quasimodo reveals to them that Erik still lives with him in the very building they stand in. Carabosse and Caradoc do not trust Wish Regina and Wish Zelena when they suggest an aliance; in fact, the more dark acts that Carabosse commits, the quicker her Black Hole will be ready. Not only do she and Caradoc reject the Wish Villains, but she sets loose a resurrected Chernabog on the sisters. In Notre Dame, Quasimodo takes Evanora and Raoul to meet Erik, and they reunite for the first time in almost 40 years. Evanora reveals that she never stopped loving Erik, but he states that he hasn’t loved in a long time. His reunion with Raoul is tense. Evanora tells Erik that they can run away and start a new life, fall in love again, but Raoul says that the plan for her was to return to Oz with Sherlock, Evanora and Watson. Revealing he has magic now, Erik removes the magic cuff from Evanora’s wrist and they teleport away. Wish Regina and Wish Zelena hide from Chernabog, thinking of a way to defeat it. Neither of them have light magic, but know someone who does. Wish Regina teleports away while her sister distracts the Chernabog to keep it from invading the rest of the United Realms. It is revealed that Wish Regina has gone to Emma for help; Emma reveals that they can defeat it with combined light and dark magic by users with an entwined history. Shortly afterwards, Wish Regina returns to help her sister with Emma and Lily, who manage to destroy the Chernabog. Meanwhile, Evanora and Erik manifest to the forest, however Zelena and Raoul locate them quite quickly. Zelena manages to bind their magic before they can escape. Later, everyone meets up back inside Notre Dame, where Sherlock, Ozma and Watson (with Evanora and Erik) say goodbye to everyone and teleport off to Oz. After returning home, Regina and Zelena are confronted by their Wish counterparts, demanding an aliance for revenge on Carabosse and Caradoc. Characters (in order of appearance) * Evil Queen (Wish Realm) * Wicked Witch of the West (Wish Realm) * Carabosse * Caradoc * Quasimodo (first appearance) * Claude Frollo (first appearance) * Laverne (first appearance) * Esmerelda * Evil Queen * Wicked Witch of the West * Robin Hood, Jr. * Alice Jones * Diaval * Lanval * Roger Radcliffe * Raoul de Chagney * Princess Ozma * Sherlock Holmes * Dr. Watson * Wicked Witch of the East * Captain Phoebus (first appearance) * Chernabog * Phantom of the Opera * Emma Swan * Lily Page Trivia * What happened in Oz after Ozma, Sherlock, Watson, Evanora and Erik depart is explored in Once Upon a Time in Oz. Category:Season 8 episodes Category:Once Upon a Time episodes